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Four Tricks You’ll Master in Editor Training

When you take a course in editor training, you will develop a range of skills. You’ll practice proofreading, discover the details of formatting, learn English grammar, and revisit the rules of punctuation.

You will also learn some tips and tricks to help you understand if editing as a career is the right path for you.

Here are just a few of the insider hacks you’ll pick up in editor training.

Editor training will teach you the following skills, and more

1. Find hidden errors

Editing involves checking a document for typos and spelling mistakes as well as consistency in punctuation, abbreviations, and numbering. To find errors and inconsistencies, the editor has to read over every word of the text carefully.

However, the errors might be somewhere other than the text.

Conscientious editors also look at the margins to make sure the text is lined up consistently throughout the document. They check bulleted lists to see if they are parallel and are correctly punctuated. And, as unlikely as it may sound, it is also very natural to skip over titles and subheadings. Editors have to be aware of this and double-check every heading at every level.

Double checking is an important part of every editor’s work anyway since it is also easy to introduce errors when editing. These have to be weeded out with a second and sometimes even a third read-through.

2. Thin out the padding

During editor training, you will learn that many words in a document are unnecessary. You will learn that you can often remove words from a sentence without changing the meaning.

Look out for redundant adjectives, for example. Can you spot one in this sentence?

“He was a large giant of a man.”

The fact that the man is a giant already tells us that he’s large; we don’t need that extra adjective.

Many other pairs of words are commonly, but unnecessarily, used together: “true facts,” “fictional novel,” “final outcome.”

You will also learn about modifiers in editor training. A modifier changes the meaning of another element of the sentence.

The girl wore a very pretty dress.

In this example, the noun “dress” is modified by the adjective “pretty.” “Very” is also a modifier, but it is unnecessary. An unnecessary modifier is also known as a weak modifier. Other common examples include “really,” “quite,” and “rather.”

3. Massage delicate egos

Many people believe that editing is a lonely task. However, the job would not exist without authors, and editors often have close contact with them.

Authors can be protective of their work, and understandably so. They’ve put a lot of time, thought, and effort into their writing submission. So they don’t always appreciate it when someone cuts their weak modifiers or realigns their margins.

That’s why it is important to learn in editor training how to deal with authors. That doesn’t mean you have to lie to them or tell them they are amazing when they’re not. But you do have to be polite and clearly explain any major changes you’ve made to the text. It always helps to remember that you’re both working toward the same goal: producing logical, readable writing.

4. Follow industry standards

Should you use serial commas in every document? Should every item in a list have a period at the end? What about the spelling? Should it be American or British?

While editor training will teach you the rules of grammar, you will also learn that some rules apply only sometimes. These are style elements, and every publication has its own style guide. The guide states the preferred spelling, formatting, punctuation, and more.

Any reliable course provider will make sure your editor training covers the basics of the main industry style guides, the most important of which is probably The Chicago Manual of Style. You will learn how to work with various style guides and how to apply their particular rules to the documents you edit.

You can find excellent online editing courses from trusted, world-class professionals. You can follow the lessons at your own pace in your own home.

The Pros and Cons of Being a Freelance Editor

There are many reasons for choosing to be a freelance editor: maybe you were laid off from your staff job, want to be your own boss, or wish to take your editing career in a new direction.

As with any decision, however, there are advantages and disadvantages to becoming a freelance editor. This list of pros and cons should help you decide if the freelance editing life is for you.

Three reasons for becoming a freelance editor

1. You can work anywhere.

As a freelance editor, you never need to run for the bus again, or get stuck in traffic, unless you’re on your way to the airport to spend the next three months working from a beachside villa!

You can work as an editor anywhere: in your living room, in your kitchen, or in your garden shed. You can even stay in your pajamas. You can also decide where that living room, kitchen, or garden shed will be: a Greek island, a Paris attic, or your own home.

The Internet and a lightweight laptop are certainly useful, but you can find the Internet pretty much anywhere these days—even on an African safari. And you don’t need an expensive, top-of-the-range laptop for editing. Still, a new computer would be a great investment for your new, freelancing life. Treat yourself.

2. You can work anytime.

Not a morning person? No problem. When you work as a freelance editor, you can choose your own hours. Sure, you’ll have deadlines, but it won’t matter to your client if you do the bulk of the work before lunch or while having a late-night snack at your desk.

You can even decide how many hours a week you want to work and whether you spread it out over five or six mornings or choose to cram 40 hours into three days.

As long as the client gets the job back on time, you can work whenever you want.

3. You can specialize.

When you work for a boss, you often have to edit whatever lands on your desk. One day it’s the annual report, the next it’s a memo to the sales department.

However, as a freelance editor, you can decide on the type of work you want to do. You could decide to only edit academic manuscripts and then only those on fluid mechanics. You might enjoy editing textbooks, as long as it’s not math. You can choose.

Editing in a specialized field will also help you stand out from the crowd and find a specific type of client.

Now let’s look at some of the disadvantages of becoming a freelance editor.

Three reasons for not becoming a freelance editor

1. It’s difficult to find clients.

Getting started as a freelance editor can be difficult. Some people build up a list of clients before they give up their staff job, but many people begin their freelancing career from scratch, or with only one or two clients.

It can take a lot of work to build up a reliable client list, but these days, there are also opportunities to work for online editing companies, specialize, as mentioned above, or even take time to brush up on your skills by taking an online editing course.

2. Your income is unpredictable.

Many freelance editors go through dry spells when the jobs aren’t coming in as fast as they used to. There may even be times when you’re getting more work than you can handle.

Hopefully, the two balance out over the course of the year, and those busy months can see you through the lean times.

If not, you can still use your time productively. Take the opportunity to look for new clients, refresh the look of your website, or take an online proofreading course to develop and expand your skills. The important thing is to keep busy.

3. You need a lot of discipline.

The threat of the sack or a cut in pay is often motivation enough to get out of bed and make your way to the office. But if you have no boss, who’s going to tell you to get to your desk and get the job done?

When you work as a freelance editor, it can be a struggle to find the discipline to sit down every day and get started.

It can help to develop a routine or talk with others in the same position. There are many forums and online discussion groups where other freelance editors can help you through those difficult days. They might even give you some tips for new clients.

The life of a freelance editor isn’t always easy, but it certainly has its advantages.

How to Learn Editing and Improve Your Career Opportunities

A good editor always has work. If you love language and have a good eye for detail, you could have a secure future as an editor.

These key steps explain how to learn editing and will help you develop your career as an editor.

Ask how to learn editing from editors

The best people to give advice on how to learn editing are, of course, editors. You could contact a copy editor at your local newspaper or a nearby publishing company and ask if he or she would be willing to answer a few questions on how to learn editing, either in person or by mail.

You can also find editors on social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, which also has several groups for editors. They were all in the same position as you when they were starting out, and most will be happy to answer your questions.

Many professional editors also have blogs and will gladly respond to questions on how to learn editing. They often post about the ups and downs of their work and give a realistic picture of what a career as an editor is like.

Just remember that there is no single career path to becoming an editor, and every editor will have a different story to tell. So speak to as many editors as you can, and try to take away at least one solid piece of advice from each.

Be prepared to study

An increasing number of universities offer courses in editing. Many editors have a degree in literature, English, or journalism, but you don’t need formal qualifications to become an editor. A good basic knowledge of English is enough to get started.

If you still don’t have the confidence to begin editing training right away, you can brush up on your language skills by taking an online grammar course. You can revisit all those spelling rules, verb tenses, and punctuation marks without the pressure of having to complete the course within a set amount of time.

An online course can also allow you to learn at your own pace.

Gain experience

While many courses can teach you how to learn editing, and advanced courses can help you develop as an editor, the best way to improve your skills is to actually do the job.

Practice will definitely help you become a better editor, and good editors are highly sought after and can demand high salaries.

It can take some time before you are able to compete with the very best editors, but don’t be disheartened. Almost any business that works with written text—book publishers, newspapers, magazines, universities, businesses, charities, website developers—has to employ an editor at some point.

You can discover more about how to learn editing in an entry-level position, such as an editorial assistant. Or, if you prefer to work freelance, you could try working for an online editing services company to build up your experience.

Proofreading is also a great springboard to a career in editing. You can take online proofreading courses focused on the specific skills needed to be a proofreader, and, even if your editing career takes off, you can always offer clients proofreading as an extra service for another source of income.

The learning never stops. The very best editors are always wondering how to learn more about editing and looking for new ways to develop their skills.